Meant
by Kayla-TheBored
Summary: "Is it just me, or is Katniss Everdeen afraid of telling me that she loves me..?" he teases "Is that a challenge?..I never back down from a challenge." He smiles "Then I want you to look me..in the eye and tell me you love me." She closes her eyes and says firmly "Peeta. I love you." His smile softens "Great, Now, I want you to tell me that you didn't mean what you just said."


**Disclaimer: I do not own the Hunger Games.**

The weather was just right. Not too warm, bright, chilly, damp, windy, dim, or dry, just right. The flowers were abloom and the sun was shining bright. You could hear the birds chirping and the wind blowing. It was a perfect summer day and, for most of District 12 it was the best day they've had in a long time, and so they took advantage, savouring the day bit by bit in small but fun activities, letting go, for once, the sorrow and hunger that usually coated the entire District.

For two particular residents of 12, the day was not only the most perfect day but also the most peaceful. Instead of enjoying the day at full swing with fast activities and loud laughter, they relish it in a quiet calm. They reside under an orange tree in her house's backyard, his back against the thick tree and her head on his lap. He plays with her hair while she entangles the grass blades between her fingers, underneath her palms.

In the silence that surrounds them, she starts to hum. It's a soft and soothing tune and he knows that she doesn't even realize what she's doing. Her eyes are closed and the wind makes the hair on her face dance. She looks the most peaceful he's ever seen her and he's glad he's there to witness it. He stares at her for a while longer but doesn't seem to realize he's stopped playing with her braid. That is, until she stops mid-hum abruptly. She opens her eyes, squinting as she adjusts to the sunlight ahead, and focuses in on his slightly grinning face. He gazes at her, waiting for what is to come. She smiles. She smiles and returns to humming.

He returns to playing with her braid and gazes ahead of him, not really seeing anything. They decided earlier in the day when he came to bring a platter of fresh bread and cookies that today would be a lazy day for them, something that neither has ever done before. It was a day that they now look forward to every waking moment, although they doubt that nature would be as kind to them any other day as it is right now. Nevertheless, they savour each whip of the wind and chirp of a bird while they enjoy, for once, living.

Abruptly, her humming ceases again and her brow furrows as she opens her eyes. She's not frowning but she isn't smiling anymore either. Her gaze seems so far as her thoughts race inside her mind. He finds her expression to be musing and he can't help but contain a chuckle. Curiosity wins over his desire to watch her a little longer and he asks what's wrong.

Instead of answering his question, she returns her own. "Do you ever feel like there's something else…between us?" She starts off, uncertain of her own thoughts. "Like, something more than our fake relationship, something…something that started before we were sent into the arena?"

Peeta rests his head against the tree as he mulls over her question. Before they were sent to the arena the both of them didn't have any contact with each other, unless you count the times that he would stare at her in school, or across the street, or in the bakery when she trades, or maybe the times when he would head for the Seam with a bag of cookies and confidence, only to turn back and return to the bakery. And of course, there was that moment, in the rain when they were still so young and at school, when they were the youngest he can remember, in music class.

She sighs "I mean, I obviously care about you now but, but I can't help but think that…I've cared for you longer than I thought I have, and I wonder…" Her voice falters. He looks down at her sharp eyes peering up at his, his expression blank. She closes her eyes. "Sorry, I don't know what I'm talking about. I shouldn't have said anything." She quickly averts her eyes to the trees, their leaves flowing with the wind.

He smiles, knowing that this is her way to cover up her embarrassment. She doesn't talk about her feelings much, so when she shows any sign of even trying to talk about it he can't help but feel a little proud. "I wonder too." He finally says. She snaps her eyes back to his and she asks "Really?"

"Well, yeah. But, not for me, for you."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I already know how I feel about you. I've known for a long time, and I know when it started. So really, I'm all set, but you…you're just starting." He grins "I know exactly what you're talking about, but I'm waiting for you to figure it out."

She sits up and scoots over to lean against the tree right next to him, eyes squinting at him. "What is it then?"

"I'm not sure you can handle it." He smirks

"Tell me!"

He leans in closer to her ear, so close that their cheeks almost touch, and he whispers: "Love."

Pulling away he sees her roll her eyes with a grin on her face. "I'm being serious Peeta."

"So am I. You say that you care about me now, but at the same time, you think you've cared for me long before we went into the games. So, I understand that feelings and emotions evolve as time passes by, and you've cared for me long enough, is it so hard to believe that your constant thoughts and worries about me evolved into something more?" He asks with a huge smile on his face.

She can't help but smile at the confidence in his eyes that she so badly wants to wipe off.

"Trust me, it's love. Everyone knows that I love you, it's just you that doesn't know that you love me back." He crosses his arms as he looks at her with a certain smugness. She releases a laugh and rolls her eyes one more time. "You don't believe me?" He questions and she shakes her head, amusement clearly written on her face. "Fine, if you don't believe that we love each other, I guess it wouldn't be too much of a bother to ask you to tell me you love me, now would it?"

After a moment of pause, she regains herself from the slight shock. "What?" she asks him incredulously.

"I said it wouldn't be too much of a bother to ask you to tell me you love me." He repeats "You've never said it before, and if it's not going to be true, I don't see why you can't do it."

Katniss scoffs and rolls her eyes again "I have told you! More than a hundred times too!"

The light in his eyes changes, slightly faltering but his voice stays as cheery and teasing as ever "Maybe, but always for the camera! Always when there are other people around!" he defends, when his face lights up with realization.

"What?" she snaps, noticing the new light in his eyes.

"Is it just me, or is Katniss Everdeen afraid of telling me that she loves me when we're alone?" he teases with a smirk.

Katniss scoffs yet again, shifts from her seat so she is sitting in front of him, and looks him in the eye "Is that a challenge?" she asks playfully yet with a hint of her ever present menace.

He leans closer and smirks up at her "Maybe it is. Are you going to take it or are you too afraid to?"

She leans closer as well and narrows her eyes at him, their faces only inches apart "I never back down from a challenge."

He leans back and crosses his arms over his chest "Its set then."

Crossing her arms just as he did, she nods "I guess it is."

"Then Katniss, I want you to look me straight in the eye and tell me you love me." He states

"That's it?" she asks and he nods "Okay then."

"Then by all means, you have the floor." Peeta smirks.

"This will be a walk in the park." She tells him as she prepares herself, not that she would know what a walk in the park felt like.

"Peeta." she states, arm still crossed.

"Yes, Katniss?" he teases her.

"I-" she hesitates. She shakes her head slightly and set her jaw "I…I lo-" she shifts on her spot and closes her eyes, obviously having an internal battle with herself. She takes a few breaths and shaker her slightly.

"You promised." Peeta remind her quietly

Her eyes snap open, fire burning within them "I know!"

She sighs one more time before looking him square in the eyes. She opens her mouth and he watches her intensely. Her eyes focus in on him and with new confidence, she calls his name again. "Peeta. I love you." She says firmly.

The smirk on his lips dim down to a soft and gentle smile as he tilts his head slightly to the side. She blinks up at him but continues to hold his gaze, a wave of emotions, foreign emotions, run through her but she has no time to address them just yet. Can one simple sentence, a string of words she's repeated countless of times for the people to hear lift what feels like a lifetimes worth of weight off of her shoulders? She blinks to clear her mind as she looks up to his small and soft smile.

"Great." Peeta says softly, then, without any trace of the joking tone he had earlier, he adds "Now, I want you to tell me that you didn't mean what you just said."

Katniss' eyes widen slightly as she hears the seriousness in his voice. She blinks at him one more time. She clears her throat. "Fine, this will be much easier." She tells him and the sadness in his eyes is immediate and evident. Regret courses through her.

"Go on then." He reassures her. She nods and takes a deep breath, preparing the words which should be so easy to mutter now.

"Peeta." she states yet again.

"Yes, Katniss?" he responds.

"I…" and she is once again stuck. I don't love you. Simple words to counter her previous statement. Why was it so hard to utter. Shouldn't the truth be easier to reveal after a lie? Especially with the both of them knowing that it was a lie. "I didn't…don't…" No, he doesn't think it's a lie, so why does she? Would it be so hard to love him? Or to accept that she's already in love with him? The immediate answer that comes to her mind is no. Just by saying those three words, she felt as if her body had become weightless, and the wave of emotions she felt has been the best she'd felt in a long time. "I…" her last attempt fails yet again and it is his voice that picks her up, just as he would if she stutters mid speech or interview.

"You what?" he asks gently, barely above a whisper.

She closes her eyes briefly again, before opening them up with a new sense of courage. She looks at his soft and loving blue eyes before whispering; "I love you." And there it is again, that feeling of weightlessness, of hundreds of emotions coursing through her. She looks into his eyes which are soft and alight, caressing her own. He smiles a perfect smile and the playfulness returns to his eyes. "I know."

The stiffness caused by her revelation eases and she laughs, a laugh so free she almost didn't recognize it as her own. He leans forward and plants a soft kiss on her forehead. "I love you too." He murmurs against her skin. She smiles before pulling away only to plant a soft kiss on to his lips. She wraps her arms around his neck as he pulls her onto his lap, smiling against her lips. Still the wind blows and the sun shines bright as they enjoy this kiss, perhaps their first real kiss.

After some time, Peeta smiles up at Katniss as her forehead rests on his, his hands wrapped around her waist. He leans up to place a soft kiss on her lips before looking in her eyes and saying.

"The weather is quite good today don't you think?"

Another laugh escapes her but she can't help but agree. Taking command, she presses her lips to his firmly and this, Peeta considers a challenge. He smirks. A challenge he will definitely not back down from.

**-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o**

**Okay, so it probably is a little OoC if not a lot, but I accepted that a long time ago . Anyway, I just wanted to write and publish something since I've been inactive from fanfiction for a while now and I saw this file sitting in my laptop unfinished, so I decided to finish it now. Hopefully you guys like it. Sorry for the crappy title also. **

**-kayla-thebored**


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